LOT OF INTERESTING MEDICAL NEWS TODAY

Teens have to get more sleep to play ball better.
My mantra when I see sick kids in my office: "Go to bed early and drink more water." This study discusses fouled up circadian rhythms and might give parents an angle for selling earlier bedtimes to their young jocks.

"Adolescents may go to sleep later than they did in previous years, while still waking early in the morning, thus getting less sleep, despite their need for the same number of hours of sleep. Thus, "young people live in a nearly constant state of chronic insufficient sleep."

Adolescents, therefore, generally perform their worst in the morning, when their brain is still craving sleep, and perk up later in the day, according to the researcher.

Do we always need to treat seizures?
I often see kids with their first seizure, refer them and the neurologists almost always recommend medication. Parents have read about side effects. This study says we might be better off not treating some people.

"After a seizure, early intervention with anticonvulsant drugs appears to have little effect on the long-term prognosis of epilepsy, British researchers report in the June 11th issue of The Lancet. After three years, 74 percent of the immediate-treatment group and 71 percent of the deferred-treatment group were seizure-free. At 5 years, 76 percent and 77 percent were seizure free."

This was not a study of children but it's relevance to children has to be studied.